"It occurred to me that the basic character of the Lagos urban fabric was the same as the structure ofthe film industry, which also is gigantic, astounding in scale, filling the horizon farther than the eye can see, but all generated by small-scale independent producers. They can work quickly and cheaply because of the stock of interchangeable elements, but each product is unique. The predominant style is resolutely modern, but there are enduring, much older structures and occasional gleaming postmodern edifices. The film industry also, in its way, provides a place for Nigerians to live....
"The films are a record of and interpretation of contemporary Nigeria, a social and emotional history. Nollywood's characteristic themes and its distinctive and original set of genres arise out of Nigerian society and address its values, tensions, and historical experiences. Africans have had to struggle to get their stories told on film as well as in other media, and in this respect Nollywood is a triumph of enormous proportions, all the more impressive and interesting because it is a popular art form whose perspective must stay close to that of its broad audience of ordinary Nigerians or risk commercial disaster. Of course the stories Nollywood tells and the way it tells them don't spring sponteneously from the mind of 'the people'--they are mediated by the complex nature of the film industry itself."
Jonathan Haynes
Nollywood: The creation of Nigerian film genres, 2016, pp. xxi, xxiv-xxv
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